Tremella versicolor was first published in 1854 by British mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley & Christopher Edmund Broome based on several collections from England on basidiocarps of Peniophora nuda on deciduous trees.

[4] Microscopically, the hyphae have clamp connections and the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 2 to 4-celled, 14 to 30 by 8 to 11 μm.

Sterigmata and basidiospores are not formed in the initial, discoid to pustular stage; instead, clusters of small, ellipsoid conidiospores are released, typically with a thin wisp of ribbon-like hypha still attached.

The hosts typically grow on dead, attached or recently fallen branches of deciduous trees.

[3] The species was originally described from England and has been recorded in Europe from Belgium,[4] Denmark,[3] Germany,[5] Italy,[3] the Netherlands,[3] and Northern Ireland.